Mycotoxins

Mycotoxins – Introduction

Ever present in the farm environment and a potential threat to the productivity of even the best-run livestock production operations, mycotoxin contamination should now be on every feed producer and farmer’s radar.

What are mycotoxins?

Mycotoxins are natural substances produced by moulds and fungi, which are common in the farm environment – surviving in many places and on many different types of feed sources.

More than 500 different mycotoxins have been identified to date and most animal feedstuffs are likely to be contaminated with multiple mycotoxins.

The growth of moulds and fungi – and mycotoxin production – is typically encouraged by heat and the presence of moisture. However, mycotoxins can also be produced by other factors that induce plant stress, such as drought.

Climate change and new feed storage practices

Climate change and feed storage practices are starting to influence the range of moulds occurring in farm feed stocks. And with traditional tilling and crop rotation practices diminishing too in many developed countries, mould contamination is persisting year-on-year, making the multiple mycotoxin threat very real.

Help is at hand however because Alltech has developed a global solution to help control mycotoxins through a combination of mycotoxin management programs, mycotoxin testing and binder technologies.

Effective mycotoxin management is about seeing the whole challenge, from the farm to feed mill and from risk assessment to feed management. The Alltech Mycotoxin Management Team provide a number of solutions to help you mitigate the threat you could face from field or storage mycotoxins. To find out more click here.